We walked around the tall column; broken off at the top. On the outskirts of this place rested the well-fortified city of Ersury. It resided near Quemen where we got the thread and spark triggers.
Those two things were for the bomb we would create later. We stole clothes, for walking around naked in the middle of the night echoed madness. Sandream would not have complained, for she was a carefree soldier.
I was a Princess, I had to have some modesty in case necessity cried for it.
On the donkey's back laid Excular's corpse, It looked so pristine even now. Sandream considered it smart to take the body. It had value even if the reaper took its vitality.
Laid before us was a temple devoid of its glory. The walls were cracked with traversing vines searching for God within its confines.
I looked up at its dull dirty stone structure as it popped out from beside the deepening lagoon nearby. The ground soft as sand pulled me in with each step.
The path once well-traveled was rife with long bushes, stems, and large shrubs of white flowers. Funny, a Sage found it fitting to hide here.
We walked in and saw someone sitting on a rock. Before I could get near enough, Janilla bashed into me and squeezed me to death. "I am so glad you are alive!" she said.
A hoarse whisper escaped my air-deprived lips. "Then do not kill me now."
She released me from that prison and started sneezing as I saw a slimmer of dust accent the air around us.
Janilla straightened up and prostrated her hands behind her back. "It is good to see you again my Lady."
I smiled. "Likewise."
Janilla led us down a passage.
The trip down the stairs was weary, and if we followed it further than our destination, we would have reached out into an inlet of the underground lake.
They called it Olad. It was an important source of clean water in Tiam and protected by its crown, but we branched off into another hidden passageway. Cast in complete darkness, Valor led us through it, and confusion set in with each turn down a new corridor.
The dim flames of the lit stick guided us, but If I came alone, I was sure to die finding no exit in this dark maze.
He moved forward, and the light filled the exiting passageway from a high fire that burned in glass tubes above us.
We came back onto the surface, for through the window, I saw the enclosed forest. The stone echoed soft thuds from our shoes as we reached out of this narrow ruined corridor. It came out onto the cracked floor.
Broken-down walls, chipped columns, and weeds sprung up from potted holes around us. It gave us a brutal image of the past. That memory held beautiful ornate cold colored drawings on those walls and columns.
Sharp paintings of people and animals accented the higher section of the wall which blended into a white backdrop.
The clean square tiles reflected the brilliance of the light and resonated with a powerful aura. I saw a few columns, large, and imposing with shaped sculpts of protruding jaws with elongated fangs on either side.
In the center of this once large imposing room stood a man. He had a sword drawn, and he asked, "State your business."
Valor stepped forward and brought down his robe hood. "Valor, that is my business."
"State your business."
Valor shrugged.
The man lowered himself as if preparing to rush Valor. Sandream came in front of me. I hissed, "Valor, do something."
YOU ARE READING
Carmine (Completed)
FantasyA young clever Princess of Ascus named Carmine is stuck in a daunting predicament by her father's decree. She wants to escape it by any means, for that was all she has ever done, running away from her duty, her crown. She must survive the darkest of...
